When The Going Gets Tough
by Sarryb
Summary: There's an explosion and an important member of the team is seriously injured. The rest of the team need to put their emotions aside to find the culprit/s. Can they do it?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any CSI Miami characters.**

**This kinda sprung from one of the character shorts I wrote for the CBS board (before they wiped the whole thing). It's from a different perspective from the short though. If you are interested in reading it (REALLY SHORT) the link is on my profile. The chapter title is Horatio. I've been suffering really badly from writer's block. The story I want to write isn't materialising, this one is. So I'll write what I'm told to by the little voices and hope that one day they'll allow me to write the other one. Enjoy.**

When the going gets tough.

The silence was deafening. The aftermath of a bomb blast was more silent than people could ever imagine. The panic which sets in after is what causes the commotion. The screaming, the crying, the terror, everything that comes with the unexpected, that's what causes the hubbub. Footsteps hurrying to the nearest exits, fast, but not running. People looking around seeing if they can see their work mates, their comrades. The worst thing was Eric had known it was going to happen. He'd started the evacuation as soon as Horatio had told him to. The minute Horatio had heard something he didn't like the sound of in the locker room, the very second he'd shown concern. Eric stood outside; he watched the doorway along with Calleigh, Natalia and Ryan. Horatio didn't appear. They waited until the steady flow of people stopped. Horatio still didn't materialise. They looked at each other. One of their own was inside. Not just anyone either, their leader, their mentor. They had to go back for him. As one they moved towards the door. The rescue officers tried in vain to hold them back. They weren't going to be stopped.

"If you want us to be safe, you need to come with us. We're going in regardless." Eric told the first guy who tried to hold him back. In response the uniformed rescue officer nodded to a few of his men who accompanied the hurrying group back inside the fragile building. Eric and Ryan took the stairs two at a time, Calleigh and Natalia hurried along behind them alongside the rescue workers. Eric headed straight for the locker room; he knew where he'd left Horatio. When he pushed open the door the devastation overwhelmed him. A heart wrenching sob fell from his mouth. He took a deep breath. Ryan pretended he hadn't noticed. He felt Eric's pain. The locker room was no longer as they had known it. There was no ceiling and the lockers were strewn all over the floor. Stray clothing was all over, and there was water spewing from the broken showers. Calleigh and Natalia caught up just as Eric had started to pull at some of the rubble, hunting for his Lieutenant. The rescue workers tried to pull him away so they could move the broken pieces, but he wouldn't be budged. So they joined him in moving the debris. Ryan was taking the junk that Eric and the others had moved and was relocating it outside of the room. After about ten minutes of intense work they saw it. A hand. A still, unmoving, blood covered hand.

"H." Eric's voice caught in his throat. He grabbed at more of the rubble.

A rescue worker grabbed his arm, "let us do it, it's safer." He and his co-worker got to work safely removing the pieces of broken room off the prone Horatio. Calleigh was crying silently, the tears rolling down her cheeks Natalia's crying was louder, but not wailing. The only noises came from her sobs and the grating movement of concrete. Eric and Ryan tried to comfort them both while trying to control their own emotions. As they slowly uncovered Horatio it became apparent that he wasn't in a very stable state. His leg was bent at an awkward angle, and his face was bleeding from multiple contusions. Most of his body was covered in blood and an almost black sooty substance. He wasn't moving. One of the rescue guys leant over him and listened at his mouth, then his chest. He felt for a pulse.

After the third try his eyes lit up. "I've got one, it's faint, but it's there. Let's get moving!" He climbed around Horatio, placing his feet in the safest places he could so not to cause any other movement amongst the wreckage. He used his radio to call for paramedics to bring up a body board, told them to take the stairs, but to be careful. They arrived in a flash. They gently loaded Horatio onto the equipment. The first paramedic checked his vitals once more. They strapped him on and told the others to follow to the hospital if they wanted to. They shared a look, one that said 'of course they were following.' The party readily departed.

-oOo-

The hospital was in pandemonium when they arrived. Although Horatio was the only serious casualty plenty of others needed treatment for shock and mild injuries. They tried in vain to get details of Horatio's whereabouts. Everyone was busy trying to deal with the sudden influx of patients that were in need of minor treatments. Eventually they got the answer they were after and headed along the clean white hall to another section of the medical facility. They were greeted by a nurse. This section of the hospital was quieter, all of the noise left behind them in the admittance area. The duty nurse showed them to an empty room, offered them seats and told them she'd be right in when she knew any information. The time dragged by. Eric paced the room making the others feel slightly uneasy. When he started muttering to himself they started to worry.

"Eric?" calleigh asked, frowning.

He stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah, just, why did I leave him in there?" He asked, obviously of himself, not wanting an answer.

"You did as Horatio asked, you started evacuation. You did what your supervisor told you to do. What do you think you ought to have done Eric, said no?"

Eric shrugged, "maybe I coulda gotten him to come with me. This didn't have to happen. What if he dies?"

There was a shocked silence. They'd all been thinking it, but no one had wanted to ask that particular question. He was their leader, their confidant, their protector. At one time or another he'd been there for each and every one of them. Some of them on more than one occasion, even what you could call regularly.

"It's not your fault. He's a bomb expert. He thought he knew what he was doing. He wouldn't have stayed behind otherwise. I think someone knew he'd stay, knew he'd try to disarm the bomb." Calleigh told Eric.

"So you think this might have been all set up to get H?" Natalia asked surprised. She hadn't even considered that.

Calleigh nodded, "I do think that." If she was going to say more she couldn't. They were interrupted by the door opening. The nurse was stood there with a grim look on her face. A tear rolled down Natalia's face before the nurse even opened her mouth.

Ryan leapt up out of his seat, "how is he?" He asked, almost aggressively.

"Not so good." The nurse paused and cleared her throat, "the doctor thought best to put him into a drug induced coma. He had a severely broken leg, he needed stitches to multiple wounds in his face, his right hand was shattered and his chest cavity was crushed causing restrictions to his breathing. Also his skull was fractured we're not sure if there will be any on going brain damage." The nurse sighed, giving bad news was awful, and the faces intently watching her always begged for some hope, hope where sometimes there wasn't any at all. In this case however a little hope could go a long way. "He's on a ventilator, but is doing okay. You're allowed to visit, but only if you are quiet and don't over crowd him. He may be able to hear you, so maybe you should all say a little something to him." She gave a small smile. The smile gave them a little encouragement. If it was all bad, surely she wouldn't even be able to bring herself to place a grin on her face. They glanced at one another as they followed her to see their fallen commander. Wondering exactly what he was going to look like, and if they could contain their emotions when they arrived.

-oOo-

The nurse didn't enter the room; she pushed the door open and motioned for them to enter. She put her finger to her lips to reiterate the need for quietness, peacefulness. They all nodded and thanked her as they passed her by and entered the room. Horatio was lying on his back, a tube taped into his mouth and smaller tubes passing up his nose. The cuts on his face were stitched so he looked like some sort of Halloween mask. Natalia choked back a sob, and Delko looked away. Calleigh putting on a brave face approached the bed, avoiding touching Horatio's leg which was suspended in the air, covered in a huge cast. She leant in and carefully placed a small kiss on his cheek and whispered in his ear.

"Hi." She said simply, and sat herself down.

Ryan took a deep breath and joined Calleigh, a little more gruffly than she had spoken he said "Horatio, um, hey it's Ryan, um," he let out a huge sigh, and a single tear rolled down his cheek, he cleared his throat "we're here for you, and I hope you get better soon." He took up position behind Calleigh's seat. He looked at Eric. Eric looked back at him; more than anything he looked scared. Horatio had been there for all of them, for him he'd protected him when he'd been shot. Looked out for his sister, man he'd loved his sister, married her. He was family. He moved towards the bed, slowly.

"Hey H," he was attempting to sound upbeat, "it's me, Eric. Uh, thanks for giving the warning to get out of there. Because of you no one else was seriously hurt. Always the hero, huh?!" He choked on his words, "get well soon. We need you."

Natalia was last, her emotional state was a little unstable and the others were unsure of what she was going to say to him. She drew near to Horatio and placed her palms flat on the bed next to his still body. She looked like she was thinking. Then clearly, with a slight anger in her voice she asked one question, "how could you do this to us?" Then she turned and fled the room.

They looked at each other confused. Natalia's feelings had taken control and she obviously had the notion that if anything happened to Horatio their team could not function. She kind of had a point. Ryan had a glare on his face. Not because of Natalia, but because of what someone may've taken from each and every one of them.

He turned to Calleigh and Eric and said with venom, "We're going to find who did this. And we're gonna make them pay."

**A/N: So that's my first chapter. I'm going to try to update at a decent speed. I'm hoping my muse doesn't run off with 'Autumns Shadow's' one back to Mexico to party... Darn that tequila! Anyways, please Review. That way I know if it's any good. I loves the reviews I do!!  
Sarry xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer: Just the usual yadda yadda!!_**

Chapter Two.

Eric looked up as Horatio entered the room. The day was in full swing. Eric had already been called to two underwater recovery sites; he'd just taken his third shower of the day.

"Please not another one H!" Eric exclaimed with a smile.

"No Eric, not another one," Horatio returned the grin, "I came to find you to tell you that we've had a result from your first recovery of the day." He frowned a little, like he could hear something.

Eric looked inquisitively at Horatio, "what is it?" He asked him, looking curiously around the room to see what his boss was frowning at.

"Can you hear that?" Horatio asked, cocking his head slightly to the side.

Eric stayed completely still; he strained to hear what it was that Horatio was listening to. "No, H I don't hear anything, well nothing unusual." He told him.

Horatio shook his head, "there's something..." He trailed off, he'd been talking to himself rather than to Eric, who watched as Horatio scanned the locker room. "Eric I need you to do something for me."

"Sure."

"Evacuate, evacuate now. Sound the alarm and make sure everyone gets out."

"But H, why..." He didn't finish before Horatio turned and looked at him.

"Eric, now. Start the evacuation."

Eric took one last look around the locker room to see if he could hear whatever it was Horatio was hearing before he turned tail and set off to start the evacuation ball rolling.

The edges of the scene in which Eric had started the evacuation started to blur black, until everything in front of him was pure darkness. He looked around; he jumped startled as Horatio's detached head floated in front of him, filling his whole field of vision. His voice stuck as he tried to say his name. Horatio's head moved closer to him, even though it didn't seem like it could be possible. The piercing blue eyes were burning into him, staring right into his own brown ones. They were begging him, imploring him to do something, anything to help him. Eric felt himself sob. Then Horatio's mouth moved.

"Why?"

Eric sat bolt upright on his bed. The sweat pouring from him and soaking his bed spread. He shivered, the sweat had cooled him, but the shudder was more to do with the memory of the dream that he had just awoken from. He didn't know what had caused him to wake, but he was glad he had. Then he heard the knock. It was his front door. He looked at his bedside clock puzzled. It was four am. Who would be at his door at this time? He ran his hand over his face and was surprised to find it wet. He looked back at his pillow, he realised he'd been crying. The bang at the door came again, louder, more impatient. He dragged himself off his bed, called out that he'd only be a minute and then ran to the bathroom to splash water onto his face. Then when he was completely sure that the tears were washed away he went to the front hall and opened up his door.

"How long do you want to take to open the door Delko?" Ryan asked a little narked. He pushed past Eric and into his home. He went to the living room and sat on the couch. Eric followed him a little bewildered.

"You know the time Wolfe, right?" He asked, trying to stifle a yawn.

"I couldn't sleep, not while knowing whoever did this to H is still out there." Came the reply. Hearing that Ryan couldn't sleep made Eric feel guilty for being able to. Even if the sleep was full of nightmares and tears. He looked at the floor; nausea overwhelming him for a bit. The sound of a small sob made him abruptly look up. It seemed it wasn't just anger keeping Ryan awake. He was also distraught. Eric walked over to the couch and sat next to his friend.

"We'll catch who done this, you know that right?" He placed his hand on Ryan's shoulder, knowing full well that his words were there to convince himself as much as his heartbroken comrade.

"Look Delko, I'm sorry for showing up here. I didn't know where to go or what to do. I want to start working on this right away. I just thought you would want to start too."

"I do, more than anything. Do you think Natalia and Calleigh are sleeping?"

Ryan reached for his cell. "Call them?" he asked waving his phone at Eric, who nodded in agreement.

-oOo-

Natalia and Calleigh arrived in under half an hour both of them slightly bleary eyed as though they had been woken from sleep. Natalia's eyes were still puffy from crying; but Calleigh seemed to have gotten herself composed.

"So it was only me that couldn't sleep," sighed Ryan, "sorry for waking you guys."

"No, it's fine," Eric started, he was actually glad to have been woken, "I want to get started too. I want to find out who did this."

"Y'all know that the first thing we need to do is to go through the debris at the site. Bomb squad will also be called in; to check that there are no more devices. We'll need to find and reconstruct the bomb to try to find the 'signature'." Calleigh said to the listening group.

They all nodded. They were all totally exhausted, and it wasn't long before Natalia's head had lowered onto the table top and her eyes closed. Eric lifted her up and carefully laid her on the couch, got a blanket and covered her over. "I only have the one spare bed." He told Calleigh and Ryan, "but one of you guys are welcome to it."

"Calleigh can take the bed, I'll use the comfy chair over there," Ryan pointed, "I'm not that tired anyway. I'll wake everyone in a couple of hours to go back to the lab."

Eric showed Calleigh to the spare room, and grabbed Ryan a blanket, just for comfort as he'd said wasn't tired. Before long the other three had fallen into restless sleep. Natalia barely moved on the couch, luckily for Eric the break in his sleep seemed to have killed the nightmare. It didn't return. Ryan tossed and turned in the chair, he didn't awaken though. Any dream he did have didn't disturb him, and he didn't remember it in the morning. Calleigh shifted in her sleep, agitated, not totally sound. But once again she was so exhausted she didn't rouse.

-oOo-

It was only a few hours later when Ryan's alarm on his wrist watch sounded. He woke to hear Eric's shower running. He stretched. Natalia was still sleeping, her pretty face unsmiling, but content. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, speaking her name quietly. She slowly opened her eyes. She looked at him like he was an alien, someone she didn't know, before the memory of the call the night before came flooding back to her. This in turn brought back the memory of what had happened to Horatio the previous day. She took a deep breath to control herself and then swung her legs around so she was sitting upright.

"Morning." She managed.

Ryan smiled, "hey there sleepyhead!"

Eric appeared in the doorway with just a towel around his waist, what little hair he had was dripping wet. "Calleigh's up, she's heading for the shower. You guys can fight out who has it after her. I put towels in there, just hope she doesn't use them all!" He turned and left the two of them alone.

"You can have it next."Ryan told Natalia, unfazed. He didn't mind going last, and he wasn't really feeling argumentative right now. He folded both of the blankets and placed them neatly on the arm of the couch. Once the showers were done with they all headed to the lab.

-oOo-

They were met by familiar yellow cordons surrounding the whole building. They flashed their badges but were still denied access. Just as Eric moved to grab the patrol officer who wouldn't let them through a familiar voice spoke behind them.

"What makes you think you'd be allowed in there? The cordons don't apply to you?"

As one they spun round. Rick Stetler was stood facing them, his hands planted firmly on his hips.

"The fact that we're the Crime Scene Investigators." Natalia barked. This took Stetler by surprise. Of all of them it was Miss Boa Vista that he'd expected to stay quiet. He'd been on the wrong end of each of them at some point, but he'd never heard that tone from her.

"Well, Miss Boa Vista, you may be Crime Scene Investigators, but that doesn't give you the right to enter _every _scene you come across. This one is sensitive to every one of you, which is why it's going to be assigned to another team."

"Like hell it is!" Exclaimed Eric.

"Yeah, what Eric said. There's no way you are assigning this to anyone else. This is our case." Ryan jumped in.

"Rick," Calleigh said his name like it was pure acid, "if it was one of us who had been in there Horatio would take the case. This is what we can do for him. The rest is up to the medical professionals. Let us do our job." She stared right into his eyes making him squirm uncomfortably.

"It's not entirely up to me," he started, knowing full well it had been him who had suggested that Horatio's team not take the case, "I'll see what I can do."

"No, I don't think you will. I think you'll tell this young gentleman," Calleigh pointed to the officer, "to let us through to join the bomb squad. I know the rest of the building has been declared safe; it's now a crime scene. Let us investigate it."

Stetler was taken unawares by Calleigh's demand. He felt pressured. He didn't want to give in and let his authority be questioned, but he also knew the trouble these four individuals could give him if he didn't cave. He sighed, looked at each of them individually.

"Fine, officer, let them through. I expect this job to be undertaken with all the professionalism..." he didn't get to finish, he was talking to their backs as they passed under the tape.

**A/N: I hope you liked it. I know if kinda leaves you hanging, without really being a cliffie, but still... Anyways, please review, not only do I LOVE your opinions, it also wills me onwards and upwards!  
Sarry xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the CSI stuff #sings# Just cos singing makes it more interesting._**

**_I'm not as far ahead as I'd like to be, I haven't had much writing time this week. But I decided as I've made everyone wait over a week for a chapter I should post._**

Chapter Three.

The silence was eerie. The only sound was the clicking of their shoes upon the hard floors. They took the stairs as the elevators were still out of service. They didn't speak. When they reached their destination; the locker room, they stopped to take stock of themselves. The memories of the day before came flooding back to each of them. All of them having very different recollections of what happened and how. But every single one of them could recall seeing Horatio lying prone in the middle of that floor. The bomb squad had just finished up. The guy who seemed to be in charge had already taken off his body armour and he approached them slowly.

"Hi. You guys the CSIs?" He asked them

They nodded silently, still in awe of the damage that the bomb had done to the small room.

"Okay, well this is the last room. It's all clear. The bomb must have been very concentrated because of the containment of the damage. I knew Horatio Caine..."

Before he could finish Natalia jumped in, "you _know_ Horatio Caine. He's still alive." She said quite aggressively.

"I know; I was going to say I knew him when he was in the bomb squad." He looked at her; she looked slightly apologetic but didn't say anything. "And I was going to continue to say, that I imagine he closed the door to help contain any blast that could have occurred. He did well. The structure of the room is sound. No more of the ceiling should fall in and the floor is fine."

Eric nodded, "Okay, thank you. So we can take over the scene now?" He asked.

The Bomb guy nodded and he turned to leave, his team followed closely behind him. His parting words chilled them, "this guy was good, and he could strike again."

-oOo-

Ryan was staring out of the window. He hadn't really listened to any of the conversation. That was why he noticed Frank Tripp when he appeared outside. He was now arguing with the patrol officer that was guarding the perimeter.

"Hey guys, Frank's here. I'm gonna go help him get inside."

Ryan headed off. He greeted Frank at the tape. Even though the patrol officer wasn't happy about the situation he let Frank pass underneath.

"So I land at the airport, pick up a newspaper and the first thing I read is that there was an explosion at the lab!" Frank tells Ryan, "then as I read on they say there was only one severe casualty, and that it was Horatio. So I called the hospital and you know what they told me?" He looked wide eyed at Ryan. "Nothing. They told me nothing. Fill me in Wolfe, what's going on?"

"There was a bomb. Horatio noticed something was wrong in the locker room and made Delko evacuate the building. The bomb exploded. When Delko called the hospital this morning the doctor said there was no change. Horatio is in a drug induced coma and is on a ventilator," Ryan sighed before continuing, "he has other injuries, they're not sure how he'll recover."

Frank listened intently, not interrupting; allowing Ryan to finish his piece. "You guys are on the case?" Frank asked, surprised.

"Yeah, let's just say we weren't the first choice. So, are you going to join us?" He asked the tall Sergeant.

"Hell yeah, I wanna see anyone try and stop me." He finished the sentence just as they met up with the others. He stopped shocked at his first sight of the locker room. "Horatio was in there?"

Eric stopped and turned, "hey Frank, and yeah he was."

Taking in the total devastation took Frank a while. The others had already seen it the day before; even if it had been hectic it wasn't something they were going to forget for a long while. The image was pretty much etched into their minds. It was what was going to drive them forward, what was going to keep them focused. That and knowing that they were hunting someone who had seriously injured one of their own.

"What do you want me to do?" Ryan asked, the others had already sectioned off the room and were searching for bomb components.

Calleigh pointed to the surveillance camera in the corner of the room. "Do you think we'll get anything off that?" She asked him.

"It looks pretty badly damaged, but that doesn't mean we can't get any images from it. Especially images from before the explosion." He stopped abruptly, knowing that if he watched the footage that quite possibly he'd see the moment the bomb went off, and see Horatio acquire the injuries that he sustained. He wasn't sure he wanted to see that.

Frank placed his hand on Ryan's shoulder. "How about I come with you and see what we can find?" He offered kindly.

Ryan nodded and they headed off.

-oOo-

Calleigh, Natalia and Eric continued to sift through the wreckage looking for anything that could have been part of the bomb. Their gloved hands worked deftly and soon they had quite a pile of pieces they thought were the workings of the bomb. Without the air conditioning the room was hot and getting hotter by the minute. The sweat was starting to freely flow and they were all starting to get a little uncomfortable. No one wanted to be the first to mention discomfort as this job was so significant, more important than any little irritation they were suffering. Eric wiped his forearm across his forehead. He noticed Natalia had dirty black smudges all over her cheeks and Calleigh's hair was all ruffled and she was rosy red in her cheeks.

"You want me to get some soda?" He asked them, knowing that if they all agreed no one would see the break as a weakness. "I'm really hot, so I know you both must be too."

Natalia and Calleigh stopped relieved. They both agreed to a soda, and followed Eric out of the room. They sat on the floor in the hall and leant their backs against the wall while they waited for him to return with their drinks.

"I wonder how Ryan and Frank are getting on." Natalia speculated aloud.

-oOo-

Ryan and Frank were sat in a/v. Ryan had set up the surveillance footage; he'd found the recordings of the locker room from the previous day. The camera was only of the locker area, not the changing area or the showers. That would just be unethical. Ryan hoped that the camera had caught enough, but not everything. He really didn't want to see Horatio get hurt. The video started to play. They saw people come and go; nothing unusual.

"Stick it on fast forward Ryan, we don't have all day!"

Ryan jumped at Frank's voice. He'd forgotten he was even there. He clicked on a button and the footage sped up. They watched people go to their lockers, leave things, get things, lock up and leave. Nothing out of the ordinary until the camera moved. It no longer showed the lockers. Ryan paused it. He looked at Frank. He rewound it and they watched it at the proper speed.

"Someone moved the camera!" Ryan exclaimed.

He yelled out again after continuing to watch the video at its proper speed, "they moved it back. When they were done they moved it back!" He glanced at Frank. His lips were pursed and he was deep in thought.

"Someone had to know the camera was there and would catch them in the act." He said thoughtfully to Ryan. "Maybe you could get prints from the camera?" He asked Ryan.

"Delko's good with printing. But they're working on the bomb components." Ryan exhaled noisily as Eric appeared on the camera not ten minutes after the camera had been straightened up.

"What did you see?"

He rewound it again and showed Frank, "Eric went into the locker room right after whoever left. Maybe he passed them in the hall."

They kept watching. Delko disappeared; he re-emerged a few moments later with a towel wrapped around his waist. Then he went off camera again and came back fully clothed. It was just then that Horatio came into sight. Frank and Ryan both drew breath as they watched the silent conversation pan out. The smiles between Horatio and Eric made them both feel sad in their guts, knowing Horatio was right at this moment relying on a machine to do his breathing for him. Then they saw the smiles turn to concern, they watched as Horatio pointed towards the door, almost pushing Eric out, his face stern and concentrating.

"I'm gonna turn it off." Ryan broke the tension ridden silence.

"You can't, what if there are clues?" Frank choked out.

Ryan continued to watch, his eyes starting to blur with the threat of tears. He tried not to look away even though his head was screaming for him to do just that. He kept his eyes on the screen as after closing the door, Horatio stepped deftly across the locker room. He placed his ear to quite a few lockers before stopping at one. He listened carefully, looked around, then he checked his watch. He seemed to be content that people had had enough time to get far enough away to be relatively safe if something did go wrong. He took hold of the locker handle with one hand, took a deep breath and pulled the door open. The blast was instant. A sob escaped from Ryan's mouth, there was no way he could stop it. He watched with his mouth wide open and with tears running silently down his cheeks as Horatio was blown across the room in the wave of the explosion. Then the camera went fuzzy. White lines scrolled across it. Ryan reached down and pressed the button to stop it and the screen went black. He turned to Frank, who just nodded at the younger man and turned and left the room.

**_A/N: I hope I can keep your interest. All of a sudden my writers block seems to be returning. I hope it doesn't make me unable to write... more soon though. Please review...it helps to know what you guys think.  
Sarry xx_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Just the plot etc..._**

I'd like to thank Queen Em, though I was going to do a hospital visit, for some reason when she mentioned it in her review I got some inspiration!!  
Thanks for continuing to read all those of you who are returing readers! Thanks for reading if it's yer first read through!

Chapter Four

Calleigh, Eric and Natalia had all the bomb fragments that they could find laid out in front of them on a backlit tabletop. They had taken a moment to comprehend how mammoth the task ahead was going to be before ploughing ahead with their mission. They separated the sections they recognised, electrical circuitry, casing and random pieces that they were sure they could place later.

"Its times like this I really miss Speed." Eric commented aloud.

Calleigh smiled at him, the memory of Speed's deftness while reconstructing bomb fragments forced the corners of her mouth upwards despite the internal pain she was suffering. It was good to have happy memories of him. The sadness of his death would never go away but her recollections of the fun times they'd all shared kept her spirits up whenever she felt sad about his passing.

"You know, he woulda shown us how this was done, he coulda had it put together in minutes." She replied smiling at Eric.

He grinned back at her, "Let's get this constructed and see what we can find. I'm sure we can live up to Speed's legacy."

Natalia watched the back and forth between her two workmates. She'd never met Speed but felt she had become acquainted with him through all of their little tales and anecdotes. They got back to work, each of them were concentrating on the task at hand when the door opened and Frank joined them. They looked behind him to see if Ryan was with him.

"He'll be here in momentarily." He responded to the enquiring looks. "How is it going in here?"

They showed him how they had progressed, which wasn't really very far. They had some pieces matched up. Nothing as yet looked like a signature. Ryan quietly joined the group. He glanced at the table, and pointed to a chunk that he thought joined a section they were working on.

-oOo-

Natalia took the leap, "So, um, did you see anything that might help on the video?" you could see she was wary of asking, but knew she had to.

Ryan coughed. "Yeah, well, no." He paused for a moment, "You see whoever did it, moved the camera. So they knew about it; the camera. But also they moved it back so it kinda recorded everything after the bomb was planted." He cleared his throat again.

They all glanced at each other then back at Ryan, who continued, "Eric, did you pass anyone on your way to the locker room? Because they were in there not ten minutes before you went in there for your shower."

"They were? I can't really remember I'd just gotten back from a scene. It had been my third underwater recovery of the day. Let me think." He closed his eyes and scrunched them up. His cheeks started to colour. "I'm sorry guys, I know I must have passed a lot of people but I can't remember any of them. It's like my mind is blanking it all out. Which is _great_ as we need it to be open right now!"

"It's okay," Natalia consoled, "trauma causes your mind to do funny things. You for one should know that. It'll come back to you."

"I almost forgot," Ryan said, "the bomb was planted in Speedle's locker."

The others looked at each other. It was kind of weird how they'd just been discussing Speedle then this development came along. Ryan raised an eyebrow questioningly at the shared look between them. Calleigh explained about the earlier conversation.

"So, Speedle dealt with bombs too?" He asked. "Maybe we are looking at this from the wrong angle. Maybe it's not about Horatio at all. Eric do you think you can lift any prints off the camera? Or is it too mangled?"

"I think I might be able to get something, if it's there I can probably find it." He told him. Ryan had no doubt that Eric was correct.

Calleigh remained quiet; she still thought it was aimed at Horatio. No one else would have stayed to check out the noise, to try to defuse the device rather than leave the building along with everyone else. But right now she didn't want to make waves, so she kept her opinion to herself. She put her head down and continued to put pieces together.

"What are you going to do now Ryan?" Natalia asked, "Eric is printing, me and Calleigh are gonna get on with this. What's next for you?"

"I'm going to take Frank to the hospital. Visit H. Then I think maybe we need to find any parts of Speedle's locker that we can. I can start on that when I return."

Just as he went to leave, Natalia caught his arm, "Did you see it all? What happened to Horatio?"

Ryan's glance instantly fell to the floor, the images replaying in his mind. He looked up at her slightly glassy eyed and simply nodded. Then he left the room with Frank close behind.

-oOo-

The hush at the hospital was almost disturbing after the hubbub of the outside world. Miami was as usual bustling and inside the hospital was a haven of peace and quiet. The only noises in Horatio's private room were the beeping of the numerous machines monitoring him, and of those that were keeping him breathing. Frank approached his friend. He took in a deep breath and noisily exhaled, he wasn't sure what to say, Ryan had told him that Horatio may be able to hear every word. Or not. They didn't know. So after taking a quick look back at Ryan he reached for a chair and sat himself down next to Horatio.

"So, I'm back from my vacation. Obviously, 'cause I'm here. I wasn't so impressed to find you in the hospital. Not where I really expected you to be." He took another nervous glance towards Ryan, who was wearing an odd smile on his face. Not a happy smile, but he looked almost content; maybe it was becuase Frank was talking to Horatio so calmly. So he continued. "It was good, my vacation. I needed the break. Maybe after all ofthis is over and you are feeling better you should take one. If anyone deserves one it's you, right? The guys are working really hard on this. You'd be proud of them; your team. You've trained them well. They're functioning okay; I think they'd be better with their leader." He tried not to look at Ryan, not that it would have mattered if he had, he had turned away so Frank didn't see how his words stung. Not that Frank meant them in an unkind way; he meant that the team missed their main guy. It wasn't like Ryan didn't know that. In fact he knew it and appreciated the sentiment one hundred percent. "Well, we have to go. Ryan needs to get back. They have some evidence to process, that's what they do. Right?"

Ryan could tell Frank was starting to struggle. He didn't know what to say. Ryan understood that, it had been the same for him the previous day. He stepped forward, "Hey H. The others have started to reconstruct the bomb. I know that's what you'd have us do first. But it's so hard. We don't know who to look to as leader. A few times they've all asked me what I'm doing, and I wonder if they're looking to me for some direction." The look he gave Frank was almost a begging expression, imploring him to not tell the others about this conversation. "I can't step into your shoes! I'm no Horatio Caine. I don't know what to do. How do you deal with the pressure? They might not even want anything like leadership from me. I don't want to misread them; make them think that I think I'm above them in any way. It's only been a day and," he choked, "I miss you. We all do."

Ryan glanced at Frank who nodded at him. It was time to leave. "I'll be back. In fact I promise that when we find who done this I'll be right here to tell you. Then when you get better, I'll be here to give you a ride home. It's the least I can do to repay all the things you've done for me over the last five years."

They said their goodbyes and left the still form of Horatio lying silently on the bed. His chest rising and falling rhythmically as a machine breathed for him. The steady beeps informing the nurses his heart was still beating was the last thing Ryan heard as he walked away.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Please take the time to review, it takes like a weeny minute or so... just a teeny tiny moment of your time PURLEASE!! Thanks for all the people who have already reviewed, and to people who have reviewed each chapter. Love you guys!  
Sarry xx**


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